Return to Errobi. On May 4, the producer Mauka organised a concert at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, which was assisted by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, and the presentation of the concert on Tuesday. The musical group was attended by Anje Duhalde and Mixel Ducau, in charge of guitar and voice.

Duhalde explains that the idea of offering the concert has emerged from the encouragement of another project. Specifically, the members of the Atzar Hadi group’s initiative to live on Errobi’s themes wanted to pay tribute: “I like tributes when I disagree”, clarifies the Errobi singer-songwriter, and explains that they have nothing to do with that project. But Ducou and among them thought, “If they do the same we could do something.”

Errobi was one of the most significant Basque musical groups in the 1970s and 1980s. Rock in Euskera has already begun to travel, with the help of Niko Etxart, among others, but Errobi was the first group to start with this musical style, which mixed rock and progressive folk with pop touches in his repertoire.

Basque rock of hard and complex times

Ducauk and Duhalde met in 1973 and soon afterwards began to join. In 1975 they published the first vinyl LP with the name Errobi, two sides of five songs, among which are Aitarik ez dut edo Inca tea: “The seven provinces look at a brother enough / but one morning the big ones in the morning impose a border.” With this kind of songs Errobi managed to connect with the Basques of the South at a tough and complex political time.

Duhalde recalled these principles in an interview at ARGIA with Pello Zubiria in 1987: “Initially the people of the South were a bit muscled. Strange voices, arranged also special -- At first we had tough criticisms. But Mixel and I were doing very well, and in the performances we kept pace.”

The shooting of Txiki and Otaegi, the ikastolas, Chile, the exiles, the deaths by the police... In 1977 they published the record of Plot Testukasuna, when the demand for amnesty became strong: “Let it be this song today / our testimony... / To win Burruka gaiten / In Euskadi freedom!”. In 1978 it was published in Bizi Bizia, a live recorded album for the first time by a Basque group.

During this time, Errobi offered numerous concerts, as you can see in the 1978 photo that we recovered from the ARGIA file, often acoustically with electrified guitar and voice. On the road to the 1979 dream, the record was probably the most breaker.

"Songs are solid, they are current."

Errobi had a short life. In 1985 a new recording was made that can be considered as a “parentheses” of the hand of the Xoxoa seal (Agur eta’erdi), but by then Ducau and Duhalde were already making their own way. Now they come back after 40 years: “Without Modestia, I’ve realized that all these songs are solid, topical and deserve to be recovered and repaired,” explains Ducauk in the presentation.

The May 4 concert in Bilbao will feature Mixel Ducau and Anje Duhalde, Remi Gachis (guitar), Iñigo Telletxea (bass) and Txomin Duhalde (drums). Tickets are sold online at EUR 30 and if they are not sold out they can be purchased at a box office at EUR 35. The doors of the Basque Country will open at 18:15 and the projection will begin at 19:00. They haven't come to an end, that also depends on the audience -- another one! Another one!